Rating: 8.0
Freelance Whales is Postal Service and Snow Patrol without the perfectly polished sound or uniform musical composition. As the band’s first album, Weathervanes has the privilege of reflecting Freelance Whales’ core artistic ideology, without the limits of genre boundaries and public or record label expectations. The result is a very diverse but solid album, with tracks ranging from upbeat and witty to powerfully intense and entirely instrumental. Digressing from their signature sound while still maintaining the same musical identity is impressive, especially for a band that’s just now emerging onto the music scene.
The opening track could not be more perfect, starting with simple, melodic acoustic strumming, supported by vocals which grow increasingly louder until they sing “we get up early just to start cranking the generator / our limbs have been asleep we need to get the blood back in ‘em.”
“Hannah” toys with electro-pop and cute lyrics, such as “Hannah takes the stairs and I usually take the elevator / every now and then she offers me a lemon Now and Later.”
The entire album is embedded with clever poetry strongly influenced by imagism, such as “shut me up with your long tubesocks / they don't scream ‘hey, let's just be friends’" in addition to conventional metaphorical imagery like “I’m floating up the stairwell / with my toes grazing the cedar / thinking softly what a tender box we live in.” The album is missing jacked up synths and digital distortion that most indie albums indulge in, making it very lyric friendly –which is a huge plus.
Directly following a 1:15 minute long childhood music box tune called “Danse Flat,” “Ghosting” comes off as an explosive and emotional release of pent-up musical energy, contrasting the whimsical and more controlled songs from earlier on the album. These two tracks help distinguish Freelance Whales as artists, not just musicians, and propel them into an entirely different –and better category of indie bands.
-Lindsay Sturm
- Release date: 3/16/2010
- Record Label: French Kiss/Mom +Pop
Rating: 7.7
Even though the band’s second album is a lot more grandiose, ditching that lo-fi sound for strings, horns, bagpipes and pianos, it still has that fuck you fury. I mean a line like, “Is there a girl at this college who hasn’t been raped?” is bound to raise a few eyebrows. The get -me-outta-here-plea, “A More Perfect Union” has Stickles shouting, “If I come in on a donkey/ Let me go out on a gurney” like someone who means it, while the sentimental duet “To Old Friends and New” includes a few quick jabs that are downplayed by a chorus of “It’s alright the way that you live.” Whether you’re drinking your worries away or worrying you’ll drink your life away, “Theme From ‘Cheers’” is an introspective barroom anthem that chants “I need a whiskey!” over a ragtime piano and a downhome fiddle, that's sure to insight more than a few drunken sing-alongs. “No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future” rallies around chants of “You’ll always be a loser!” only to end with Stickles screaming, “And that’s okay.”
Stickles definitely has a way with words and he knows how to get them out there for all to hear, whether it’s through a careful warble or a bloody murder scream. There’s always been those Conor Oberst comparisons, which crop up again on “Richard III” when he roars, “Only one dream that I keep close and it’s the one of my hand to your throat” or the epic “Four Score and Seven” where he croons, “I wasn’t born to die like a dog, I was born to die just like a man.” But here, Stickles seems to be playing up his Jersey upbringing, rewording “Born to Run” when he sings “Tramps like us, baby we were born to die!” on “A More Perfect Union.” Stickles is still looking for a new New Jersey and is quick to shun his Springsteen-ness on “The Battle of Hampton Roads” where he explains, “I’ve destroyed everything that would make me more like Bruce Springsteen.” But even if he isn't quite ready to follow in The Boss’ footsteps, the song's final cries of “Don’t ever leave,” still shed some hope that one day he’ll embrace the Garden State’s tradition of middle class hero-dom.
The Monitor might have you breaking out the history books to fully understand the references to John Brown and Jefferson Davis, but the sentiment of the album is accessible to any twenty-something who’s still trying to figure out what’s next.
-Shannon Carlin
Release Date: 3/9/2010
Record Label: XL
Rating: 7.4
Because Sisterworld covers so much ground, the mood shifts from song to song can be abrupt, but then, Liars have never been about providing a conventional listening experience. On album-opener “Scissor,” lead singer Angus Andrew is a spiritual crooner, channeling TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone as he trades off between a deep, soulful delivery and a breathy falsetto. On “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” and “The Overachievers,” which are blunt punk tunes wrapped in 21st century art-rock packaging, Andrews shouts the lyrics with raw urgency that conjures Joey Ramone. “Proud Evolution” features circular chanting over celestial tones and a throbbing bass beat, and could be mistaken for an unreleased track from the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions. The bipolar swings can be jarring, but they also command attention in a powerful way.
Liars only come off as impenetrable when they hold the listener at arms length instead of pulling them into their dark, jagged world. On “Drip,” Andrews whispers with humdrum lethargy over minimal percussion and static ambiance. The result is four minutes of airy aimlessness that never gets off the ground. Alternately, “Too Much, Too Much,” the album closer, is subtle yet commanding. The track builds on a trance-inducing bass theme before reaching a swirling, ghostly climax. The album then ends on lingering, ambient tones that seem to suggest Sisterworld, desolate as it may sometimes be, is a place worth visiting.
- Adam D’Arpino
Release Date: 3/9/2010
Record Label: Mute
Rating: 6.8
The Ruby Suns know how to write a song. After their self-titled debut in 2005, and then the pleasant Sea Lion from 2008, there's no denying that the New Zealand group have it in them to produce a good tune or two. Their third full-length, and first release on Sub Pop, Fight Softly is yet another body of work that proves what the Suns are capable of. But here, their capabilities come in the form of risks.
While the previous album was more of a strum-friendly, indie-folk gem, Fight Softly is an adventure through an electronic wonderland. It's quite the leap to make, and certainly one that can take a casual Ruby Suns fan by great surprise. Nearly gone are the playful guitar strings and steady percussive. In a way, this album lacks the organic and raw vibes that, at one point, helped to identify them as a band.
"What's this?" you'll ask yourself, because instead you'll uncover a new side to the New Zealanders — one rife with a new sense of excitement, in the form of dance-y, shimmering and propulsive beats, and light and meandering vocals. There's definitely a swagger in this new version of themselves, as they delve and go all out in almost every track, completely fearless in relying on quirky and jagged effects (sometimes reminiscent of Animal Collective, other times calling to mind Yeasayer).
A shift in gears like that is admirable, and there are many moments throughout Fight Softly where it's impossible to resist some of the funky and warping arrangements that the Suns have spliced together —they are catchy, and definitely the contagious kind. However, the brazenness of this new venture also has its consequences.
Some songs, such as "Sun Lake Rinsed" and "Cinco," have instances of seductive hypnotizing, but these don't necessarily last long enough to gauge full attention throughout the entire song. The captivating moments come and go, most likely a result of just too much stuff going on. In just one song, you can feel captivated, lost, entranced, and then abandoned again. The band is brave for trying something new, but the way in which they went about it, sometimes makes it a little difficult for us to latch onto their genius.
-M.Geslani
Record Label: Sub Pop
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Rating: 7.0
White Hinterland’s Kairos, as expected, is the perfect album to listen to during a blizzard, while you’re peering through the window, wide-eyed, watching a glowing white fury devour the landscape. Bold but sweet, Casey Dienel’s vocals sound like they’re slipping over and under the music—sometimes she’s belting out, and sometimes just tinkering with her voice in the background like any other instrument. Dienel’s vocal range is comparable to that of Regina Spektor’s, also sharing her feminine, almost operatic style of looping notes and complicating melodies.
The album’s title isn’t the only reference to Greek mythology (Kairos being the Greek word for a fleeting, but perfectly opportune moment), with one of the album’s tracks entitled “Icarus,” the widely referenced Greek figure who tried to use his wings to escape Crete, but tragically fell to his death. The album is also bent tightly around the concept of naturalism, incorporating sound effects like crickets or wind, and with track titles such as “Huron,” “Magnolias,” and “Moon Jam.”
The song “Magnolias” would fit perfectly into Disney’s Fantasia, set to serenade technicolor flowers ice-skating across a frozen pond—an image further enhanced by the song’s electric harp, and the band’s motto “keep it surreal.” The song “No Logic” is similar in construct to traditional Native American music, the kind that’s performed in a large group around a celebratory bond fire. In “Thunderbird,” Dienel’s voice imitates the sound of a flute, melting over a blend of humming and barely audible lyrics, set to a tribal drumbeat.
Lyrically, the songs lend themselves well to the album‘s title. “Amsterdam” is about the moment that Dienel notices a person’s constant need to glance at his/her own reflection, “Moon Jam” repeats “I cannot control myself,” and “Begin Again” is self-explanatory. However, the lyrics are difficult to decipher, forcing you to listen carefully if you want any clue as to what these fancy three to five minute symphonies are really about.
-Lindsay Sturm
- Record Label: Dead Oceans
- Release Date: March 9, 2010
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